


Case File: Vulpes Inculta

by RandamHajile, turianosauruswrex



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Journalism, Multimedia, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2018-10-07 09:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10357203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandamHajile/pseuds/RandamHajile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/turianosauruswrex/pseuds/turianosauruswrex
Summary: In the year 2299, over a decade and a half since the death of Caesar and the fall of the Legion, follow two reporters, Delilah Wells of Radio New Vegas and Carlos Rendón of the New Vegas Times, as they work together to uncover the mystery behind an anonymous tip they’ve been given--is Vulpes Inculta, the infamous war criminal said to have been slain in 2282, still alive and free in the Mormon capital of New Zion? And if so, what sort of danger could he pose, and can he be brought to justice for his heinous crimes?





	1. October 7-27, 2299

**Author's Note:**

> This is a multimedia epistolary fic, written by RandamHajile and turianosauruswrex, with accompanying images and audio. A transcription of the first part is posted here; use the following link to access the Google Drive folder with rest of the content for this chapter! https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Y_9mOWj_0zdFRDMlZvQkI5ZjQ
> 
> This chapter's Mr. New Vegas segment was written by Ferris (ffferris.tumblr.com), and Miranda St. James was voiced by Cat (bee-and-puppycat-in-ooo.tumblr.com)

[INTRO MUSIC]

DELILAH WELLS: This is Delilah Wells, reporting from New Zion for Radio New Vegas. The frumentarii were some of the most feared and effective soldiers in Caesar's Legion, yet general knowledge of them is scattered, at best. Even today, beyond the fact of their existence, much about the frumentarii is still shrouded in mystery -- just how they'd like it. But on the sixteenth anniversary of Caesar's fall, Radio New Vegas is seeking to shed some light on what very well might be the Legion's last and darkest corner. Our investigation begins with the first of our frumentarii interviews; please welcome to the studio Arthur Young, New Zion’s head librarian. Mr. Young, thank you for joining us.

ARTHUR YOUNG: My pleasure.

WELLS: All that's commonly known about the frumentarii is the very basics of what they did -- you would spy on the Legion's enemies, deliver intelligence reports to Caesar, create opportunities for the Legion to swoop in and conquer tribes and towns in your way. Clearly you, as a whole, were instrumental in the Legion's success -- this shouldn't be too difficult, but let’s start with this: what's something we wouldn't think about the frumentarii?

YOUNG: Well, firstly, we were actually the youngest part of the Legion. The praetorians came before us, almost immediately after Sallow declared himself Caesar, in fact. The legate was designated early on, obviously...Caesar even appointed vexillarii before he thought to create his network of spies. An unwise move on his part, but it was all still established relatively quickly, within a couple of years’ time. The hardest part would've been finding men capable of being effective agents. The rest of the Legion never prided itself on subtlety. But for frumentarii it was essential.

WELLS: So aside from that sense of subtlety, what did it take for a legionary to become a frumentarius?

YOUNG: Each one of us was selected by Vulpes Inculta and Caesar himself. They would take recruits or officers who displayed potential and put them through a test. If they passed, well done. If not...most of them didn't live to tell of their failure. I can only think of a handful who did. It was different for each recruit. A basic structure but still varied.

WELLS: What did you have to do?

YOUNG: [laughter] I never had to take it.

WELLS: Oh, you didn’t?

YOUNG: No, I distinguished myself in battle -- a much less common way to make it in. Typically Caesar and Vulpes Inculta taking notice of you would...reflect negatively on you. To say the least. But occasionally...occasionally not, as in my case. 

WELLS: So what did you do?

YOUNG: I disobeyed my centurion -- he wanted me crucified, but my actions won the battle for us. What would have ordinarily been grounds for execution instead elevated me to one of the top positions in the Legion.

WELLS: The frumentarii were that powerful?

YOUNG: Yes, of course we were. It’s because of us Caesar was able to spread the Legion over Arizona, and it’s because of us he was able to establish his hold in the Mojave.

WELLS: And New Vegas as well, correct?

YOUNG: Of course. Caesar wouldn’t have won the Dam without us.

WELLS: How much of the Dam was thanks to the frumentarii, compared to the Courier’s work?

YOUNG: ...Most of it. We gathered the intelligence, we infiltrated the NCR to decimate their forces, we set up everything that brought them down. The Courier grossly overstated her role. And we punished her for it, fittingly.

WELLS: Yes, I remember hearing of it. Did doling out punishment fall under the frumentarii’s regular duties?

YOUNG: We certainly took care of our own who disobeyed Caesar’s directives or failed to meet the Legion’s standards. We punished traitors and deserters, anyone who was caught trying to beat us at our own game. Any NCR soldier captured by legionaries, particularly the Rangers, got sent to us for...further questioning. But for regular legionaries, our ordinary soldiers and recruits, no, that wasn’t our duty.

WELLS: What about your interactions with civilians?

YOUNG: We would interact with them in the field, but...not much beyond that. Frumentarii were supposed to be able to blend in seamlessly with profligates -- as -- as we called non-Legion back then -- without being corrupted by their influence. I regularly had these kind of assignments myself, it was the most common task we had.

WELLS: What did -- what did that usually entail?

YOUNG: Well, we would assume different identities, of course, perhaps we'd be businessmen or caravan merchants, endear ourselves to the community -- or simply to the authorities -- and send intelligence reports back to Caesar. Couriers were often frumentarii as well so we knew what we were sending would be safe. As we were able we created openings for the Legion -- perhaps we would gain positions of authority ourselves, or convince those with power to let their guards down at least -- and send for anything from a contubernium to a full centuria when the time was right. The best frumentarii were able to destroy towns on their own but it was rare. Typically only one or two of us were ever in one place at a time.

WELLS: Just to clarify for our listeners, a contubernium was about eight or ten soldiers, correct?

YOUNG: Correct.

WELLS: And a centuria was --

YOUNG: Around eighty.

WELLS: Around eighty, yes. How did you choose where you would go next?

YOUNG: Caesar chose them for us. Military bases, such as Camp McCarran, or points that would give us an advantage such as Nelson. I myself was instrumental in taking Cottonwood Cove.

WELLS: What can you tell us about that?

YOUNG: It was before we were in the Mojave proper -- around the time of the first battle of Hoover Dam, shortly afterwards. We needed a base on the other side of the Colorado, so two of my fellow frumentarii and I posed as escaped slaves who'd stolen a boat and run to the first NCR base we could find. They took us in, said they would help us, get us to safety, far away from the Legion. There were...maybe five soldiers there at the time. We left one alive. Held him hostage until a centurion arrived with his men, then crucified him.

WELLS: Wait, wait. Let me get some clarification. If this was...if this was around the first battle of Hoover Dam -- you're not an old man, Mr. Young --

YOUNG: I was about sixteen, seventeen years old.

WELLS: Was that typical? For frumentarii to be that young?

YOUNG: ...No. No, it wasn't. I was one of the youngest frumentarii, but ordinary legionaries were often younger. Caesar would send twelve-year-old boys into battle for him.

WELLS: Oh my god.

YOUNG: The frumentarii didn't start watching recruits until they were older. Vulpes Inculta disagreed with using child soldiers. But only because he said they weren't reliable, not out of any sense of goodwill. 

WELLS: [clearing throat] What...what about the lesser known victims of the frumentarii, the towns you, as a whole, took that weren't necessarily in the most strategic positions?

YOUNG: Pardon?

WELLS: Well, the frumentarii were responsible for the destruction of Searchlight and Nipton. Those two were destroyed completely rather than assimilated like Primm. What prompted Caesar to take that action?

YOUNG: Searchlight was an NCR outpost. It only made sense for us to deal with it.

WELLS: But Nipton wasn't, so --

YOUNG: I didn't --

WELLS: Why would Caesar send his elite spies -- and allegedly the leader of those spies, no less, according to the few survivors -- to wipe out a small, insignificant town like Nipton when he could have used those resources more advantageously elsewhere?

YOUNG: Ms. Wells, I didn't have anything to do with Nipton. I remember hearing about it after the fact, and I remember Caesar's confusion because he'd never ordered anything for Nipton, but I was not involved. That was entirely Vulpes Inculta's idea. He would often do things simply because he wanted to, whether Caesar had approved it or not.

WELLS: And he got away with it?

YOUNG: Of course he did. Being Vulpes Inculta came with certain privileges.

WELLS: Privileges like defying Caesar.

YOUNG: He didn't...defy Caesar, Ms. Wells; whatever he did he'd either been explicitly told to do or had never been forbidden from doing. He was the fourth most powerful man in the Legion. That gave him room to do things leagues beyond what ordinary legionaries or even other frumentarii could get away with.

WELLS: Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

YOUNG: If Caesar had been the forgiving type, yes.

WELLS: Now, just to remind our listeners, Vulpes Inculta was the leader of the frumentarii. Was that his name or was it a title?

YOUNG: It was a title, but only one man ever held it, at least until my cousin took it from him. Clearly he was deserving of it if he escaped death for forty-odd years until then. He was the only one of us with a title, in fact, not even his second in commands had one.

WELLS: He had multiple lieutenants?

YOUNG: Not all at once; he just went through...several. Most often they were captured or fell in battle, but one disappeared shortly before the second battle of Hoover Dam and he was infuriated.

WELLS: I can imagine he would be. His second in command just disappeared, just like that?

YOUNG: Yes, he was sent on an assignment to the north but never returned. At first we thought he'd been killed before he could complete his task; the area north of Flagstaff into Utah was particularly dangerous for our men at the time, but we later found out he'd succeeded and simply decided not to return. If we could have found and punished him, we would have, but...there was a reason he was second only to Vulpes. He would have made an excellent leader, had he not succumbed to cowardice.

WELLS: Is that why you think he left? Cowardice?

YOUNG: It's what I thought then.

WELLS: Is it what you think now?

YOUNG: I'm sure there are other explanations.

WELLS: Such as…

YOUNG: He may have realized what we were doing was wrong. Possibly had some...regrets.

WELLS: Did you ever regret what you did?

YOUNG: …

WELLS: Mr. Young?

YOUNG: I...not at the time. At the time the Legion was all I'd ever known. Serving Caesar was the only thing that mattered -- victory, at any cost, was the only thing that mattered. It wasn't until...until my cousin rescued me that anything began to change. She saved my life, truly.

WELLS: When did she step in?

YOUNG: After Caesar's death. I went into hiding like most of the other frumentarii. Staying in New Vegas with Lanius in charge would have been a death sentence, he hated us. We either disappeared or defected to the Malpais Legate's army in Utah. As you know my cousin was...working with the Legate to dismantle the Legion for good. She uncovered my identity and recruited me to help the war effort, and...I don't know what I would have done if she hadn't. The Legion -- I had been in the Legion for so long, I didn't know what to do outside of it. I was...lost. You'll hear that from many former legionaries, and most of them weren't as...as fortunate as I was. To have family looking for them. But my cousin found me, offered me a role in Lanius’ downfall...of course I accepted. To be reunited with my family, after eleven, twelve years, it...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I don't think...

WELLS: It's quite alright, Mr. Young. Thank you for joining us. Again that was Arthur Young, a former frumentarius who's now New Zion's head librarian. Stay tuned for your local news and weather updates, as well as an exclusive interview with New Reno's Claudia Van Graff. We'll be right back.

[OUTTRO MUSIC]


	2. Oct. 27th - Nov. 8th, 2299

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the year 2299, over a decade and a half since the death of Caesar and the fall of the Legion, we’ve followed two reporters, Delilah Wells of Radio New Vegas and Carlos Rendón of the New Vegas Times, as they’ve come together in the capital city of the Mormon nation of New Deseret to uncover the mystery behind a grave anonymous tip they’ve been given–is Vulpes Inculta, the infamous war criminal said to have been slain in 2282, still alive and free in the Holy City of New Zion? And if so, what sort of danger could he pose, and can he be brought to justice for his heinous crimes? Join us now as the trail goes hot, and the mystery deepens…

HERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS, FINALLY CHAPTER 2 OF

**Case File: Vulpes Inculta**

<https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Y_9mOWj_0zY0xVdHFPUnFadXM>

_Click the link above to be taken to a Google Drive folder containing both chapters! Make sure to sort the content by name so it is in order!_

Featuring **almost 20 minutes of audio** and **three times as much content as chapter 1** , dive back into the **epistolary style mystery** where our intrepid duo of reporters continue their search for the most dangerous war criminal of their time.

 **Big thanks** to @space-faring-kissboy as the voice of Carlos Rendón, @corviidaee as the voice of Jules McAllister Chavez, @deletemyarthistory as Jules’s daughter Natalia, and @turianosauruswrex as the voice of Delilah Wells, with her friend Matthew contributing an additional voice!

_Here's a link to the fic posted on tumblr if you want to like and reblog it there!_

<http://randamhajile.tumblr.com/post/167177060148/here-you-have-it-folks-finally-chapter-2>

 


End file.
